TECHDIGEST – The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, National Agency for Science and Engineering (NASENI) Dr. Bashir Gwandu has called for stronger collaboration with the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), Kaduna, Kaduna State for the smooth take-off of the permanent site of Aeronautics and Air Vehicle Development Institute (AAVDI), an Institute under NASENI.

The institute is located within AFIT Complex in Kaduna.

The NASENI boss who disclosed this on Wednesday when the new Commandant of AFIT, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) S.L. Rabe paid him a courtesy visit at NASENI headquarters Abuja, congratulated the new AFIT boss on resumption of duty.

AVM Rabe came to NASENI with AFIT Provost, Professor Dauda Mohammed; Director, Quality Assurance, AFIT, Dr I. Yahuza and Director of Projects, AFIT, Group Cpt Ahmed. He said his visit to NASENI was to congratulate the EVC on his appointment as well as touch base with him on the collaboration for the establishment of NASENI Institute in Kaduna

He said it was an honour and he looked forward to strengthening ties with NASENI to develop AADVI and also fast track the on-going work on made-in-Nigeria helicopter. He promised to work with NASENI and asked that AFIT staff should be part of trainings for unskilled talents such as welding, etc. “I am of the opinion that the AFIT staff should be part of the NASENI trainings to gain knowledge from the trainings.”

Dr. Gwandu informed him that he was barely two months on the job since his appointment and that he has been visiting NASENI Institutes to see what some of them are doing. “Surely, our work with the Air Force and the military establishment are areas that I want to focus on because there are some of our key projects that AFIT is championing and that cooperation is very important to us in particular and to the country.”

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He said the main reason for having the helicopter and the AAVDI is for Nigeria to be self-reliant in aviation technology, noting that there will be manufacturing of components for the helicopter and other aircrafts that NASENI can produce. “We can train people to learn to produce the components. “Iike I said, we have been looking at different components of aircrafts in particular and how we can penetrate that industry”

“We produce a lot of titanium in this country, as we know the body of aircrafts in particular use composite materials which do not work with aluminum as we all know because of corrosion. One of the key projects I am working on is getting a team to work on Titanium.

“I have companies that I am talking to courtesy of your colleague at NASENI. We will work with what we have to produce some of the parts. We have Institutes like HEDI in Kano that produce hydraulics that is needed in aviation. We are trying to form a team that we can train in different areas of aerospace such as satellites, down to aircraft aviation.

He said “one of the key projects we’ve discussed on Airbus is the MRO in Abuja. Instead of taking all our aircrafts out, we want to establish an MRO here so that we can do it here. Why Abuja is important is because it is centre of Africa. The distance to anywhere from Abuja is not more than five hours. It is the most central location and also not much rain activities as much as it is in other places”

On training on aircraft parts and systems including Avionics, he said NASENI was interested in developing that areas that were earlier mentioned. “We are just starting and we have to start from somewhere. We have to do something fast or else we will find ourselves lagging behind. Most of the advanced countries are making money mainly from high-tech that we do. We need to be there and compete with them. That is the thinking,” Dr. Gwandu added.

The Air Force Institute of Technology has already provided land/space for the construction of NASENI’s Aeronautics and Air Vehicle Development Institute, including other necessary infrastructures for the smooth take-off of the projects; and also to provide counterpart technical team during aviation equipment installation and test-running.

The AFIT is also to provide training on helicopter piloting, maintenance of helicopters and development of Maintenance, Repairs and Overhaul (MRO) plans; provide counterpart technical team required for hangar development and testing as well as provide technical team for avionics and reverse engineering of Dynali helicopter.

On its part, NASENI would work with AFIT on prefabricated structures/homes in areas where there is deficiency, provide technical team with respect to setting up AFIT’s Laser Cutting machine and automation systems.

The Agency will also provide counterpart technical team required during skills acquisition programmes, hands-on training workshop, seminars, conferences and other trainings as well as provide AFIT recommended science kits.
In December 21, 2021, a presidential order was given for relocation of the NASENI Made-in-Nigeria helicopter project to AFIT and also the establishment of the AAVDi within AFIT

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TECHDIGEST – The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) is calling on investors to collaborate with the Agency in local production and domestication of Lithium batteries among other renewable energy solutions.

The Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of NASENI Dr, Bashir Gwandu speaking today in Abuja said the Agency was ready to partner with international companies that are willing to set up their industries in Nigeria and start local production of renewable energy solutions, electric vehicles parts and other capital goods that could create jobs and reduce Nigeria dependence on foreign goods that exert pressure on our foreign exchange for the country.

Dr Gwandu who disclosed this while receiving a business delegation from LEMI Technology Shenzhen, China at NASENI headquarters said that “NASENI is already doing a lot in the area of Solar Panel Production”.

He says very soon NASENI will attract solar cell manufacturing to improve synergy with its existing work on solar panel assembly. He said the Agency has held meetings with other companies from around the world with a view to seeking partnership on local production of lithium-based end-products in Nigeria as against the normal practice of foreign companies exporting the raw materials outside the country for processing.

According to him, taking some of the visions of NASENI forward, which is domestication of technologies, capital goods production and commercialization in Nigeria, NASENI would help bridge the technological gaps between Nigeria and other countries, help stop importation of these technologies and encourage local production.

He also said NASENI will be working with the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) to encourage development and production of electric vehicles and even conversion of existing vehicles to electric-vehicles as against producing from scratch. In that same regard, NASENI is also in discussion with various stakeholders on promotion of the installation of electric vehicle charging stations on major roads across the country.

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“So, we are inviting friends of Nigeria to come here and establish here. We are encouraging those who can come and produce locally. We will give them support and ensure that the investment environment is encouraging,” he said.

The NASENI EVC hoped that this call is an opportunity to partners who want to produce in Nigeria to do so. The Federal Government, he disclosed, “would welcome any company who gets to us first”, adding that on the production of Lithium batteries, the Agency was ready to go into partnership with companies that are willing to establish their factories in Nigeria.

Dr. Gwandu suggested that NASENI and LEMI Technology should work out the areas of possible collaborations in the production of the lithium battery and ensure that all the safety and environment regulations are followed.

While emphasizing NASENI’s priority area to be the production of lithium battery and inverters, Dr Gwandu expressed delight in working out a memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with LEMI Technology with a view to ensuring safest means of producing the lithium-based batteries, taking into cognizance Nigeria environmental peculiarities.

The founder of LEMI Technology, Ms. Joyce Chen in her speech said the company is ready to partner with NASENI and invest in the country, promising that they look forward to a rewarding relationship with NASENI and the Nigerian government. Other members of the delegation include the Chief Investment Officer, Mr. Rocky Hu; Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Biju Yao; Oversea Business Director, Ms. Monica Liang and Engineer Mr. Lucia Peng.

Giving details of the visit, the Chief Executive Officer of LEMI Technology Mr. Xie Feng expressed his company’s willingness to partner with NASENI through MoU on renewable energy with particular reference to products like solar and television panels, inverters and battery production.

He said Nigeria and China have a brotherhood that spans many years, adding that Nigeria with its teeming population, it is critical for investment opportunities. Mr. Feng added that LEMI Technology has been operating in the Nigerian market since 2018 and had provided job opportunities to Nigerians and have sold renewable energy products to over 200,000 Nigerian households.

NASENI is the Nigerian only purpose-built Agency with specific mandate in the area of capital goods research, production, and reverse engineering in the following broad areas: Engineering Materials, Industrial and Analytical Chemical Materials, Scientific Equipment and components, Engineering Equipment, Engineering Designs and Standardization, and Power Equipment.

On resumption of duty, one of the projects embarked upon by the EVC of NASENI amongst many others was to summon some of the key exporters of Lithium from within Nigeria and advised them to start thinking of inviting their offtakers in different parts of the world who manufacture lithium batteries to start planning to come and invest in the end-product production in Nigeria.

He encouraged them to take advantage of the discussion and harness the first mover-advantage because those who come to invest will be assisted by NASENI through promotion of government policy to limit export of all types of lithium except what Nigeria cannot process to an end-product.

He emphasized that Nigeria cannot continue to export raw lithium if other countries such as Zimbabwe have gone to the extent of lithium processing. He stated that Nigeria should be at the fore-front of battery production since it has all the relevant raw materials including Phosphate.

He stated that in any area where NASENI can attract manufacturers be it in renewables or other areas such as aerospace industries, any company that can come to Nigeria and process the raw elements into end-product will be supported by NASENI. Companies invited for earlier discussion on the Lithium included suppliers to CATL and LEMI of China.

Today the EVC received the first delegation from LEMI of China to start conversation on the local production of various types of lithium batteries and other products in the photovoltaics value chain.

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